Columbia, South Carolina ---- United States Attorney Beth Drake stated today that Preston Alexander Elmore, age 35, of Bishopville, pled guilty in federal court in Columbia to Theft of Government Money, a violation of Title 18, United States Code, § 641.  Senior United States District Judge Margaret B. Seymour, of Columbia, accepted the guilty plea and will sentence him at a later date. 

Elmore received farm loans from the USDA Farm Service Agency office in Bishopville in 2012.  The loans were to be used to purchase a tractor, a combine, grain heads, an irrigation system, a generator, and to dig a well. 

On April 2, 2012, Elmore requested $19,800 from the USDA for the purchase of farm equipment.  Specifically, he planned to purchase two John Deere tractors, a John Deere grain head implement, and a John Deere corn head implement from his parents.  He did not use the loan money to make these purchases.

On June 27, 2012, Elmore was loaned $59,900 for the remainder of money owed to Palmetto Irrigation for a generator and irrigation system.  None of the money went to pay for these items.  Instead, the money went to Elmore’s account, and he used it for his own purposes.

Elmore defaulted on both loans.  Furthermore, Elmore damaged, destroyed, removed, or sold the collateral for the irrigation system and the generator. 

Ms. Drake stated the maximum penalty faced by Elmore is imprisonment for ten years and a fine of $250,000.

The United States Department of Agriculture, Office of the Inspector General, investigated the case.  Assistant United States Attorney Winston David Holliday, Jr., of the Columbia office is prosecuting the case.

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